Two states elect Governors in November 2009, Virginia and New Jersey.
In Virginia, the only known minor party or independent candidate currently petitioning is Glenda Gail Parker of the Independent Green Party. The party had tried to persuade Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals Ice Hockey team, to be its candidate, but he declined. The petition deadline is in June.
In New Jersey, where the petition deadline is also in June, there are two independent candidates who have received a fair amount of press attention. They are Christopher Daggett and Reverend Shannon Wright. Daggett is a former regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Reagan, and headed New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection under Governor Thomas Kean. Shannon Wright had been Campaign Manager for a Republican gubernatorial candidate, Franklin Mayor Brian Levine. However, Levine failed to collect 1,000 signatures of registered Republicans, so he is off the ballot for the June primary, and that motivated Wright to enter the race as an independent.
The only minor party gubernatorial candidates so far are Angela Lariscy of the Socialist Workers Party, and Greg Pason of the Socialist Party. The New Jersey Conservative Party has endorsed one of the Republican gubernatorial candidates, Steve Lonegan (it was Lonegan who challenged the petitions of Brian Levine). The Libertarian Party state convention, held March 31, did not nominate anyone for governor. The Green Party and the Constitution Party have not named any gubernatorial candidate, although since only 800 valid signatures are needed for minor party and independent candidates, such candidates might still emerge. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the news about Christopher Daggett.
Wake up Libertarians.
Nominate a candidate for Governor and L. Gov.
Hurry.
Is there any ballot-access significance to the gubernatorial race in NJ?
No. The only way a group can become a qualified party in New Jersey is to poll 10% of the vote for all Assembly races (the lower house of the legislature). New Jersey and Pennsylvania are the only states with a definition of ballot-qualified party that is so difficult that it has never been used. The Pennsylvania definition is to have registration membership of 15% of the state total (over 1,000,000 registered members).
Richard’s wealth of knowledge rides to the rescue again.
An “Independent,” or a “No Party” registration is “no Party” voter restricted to general elections only. It’s a perception of a negative. A Conservative registering as affiliated with the “Conservative Party” is classed as a “No Party” and restricted to general elections, but the perception is one of a positive.
Is there any state that prohibits registering “Conservative Party?”
The only states in which it is impossible to register as a Conservative are Iowa and Kansas, which have no blank line for “other” on the question about the voter’s party membership. However, in certain other states, a voter who writes in “Conservative” in the blank line would get coded in the computer as an “other” or “independent”.
Thanks. That was a great deal of help. Now we will go to work on Iowa and Kansas. In Louisiana, for your information, when registering as a Conservative Party preference the voter card shows other, but the Secretary of State codes it correctly in their database. So, the force of the non-ballot-access party can still be measured by anyone paying the Secretary of State’s department for the report.
What About Omar Dyer he has 750 signatures and is working hard in New Jersey.